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I for one love a walkable city. I absolutely love walking to shops and activity, without having to start the car. Love it, love it.

The problem is that most cities aren’t planned for it. The walkable cities tend to be old urban centers that are in or near poor dangerous neighborhoods and the middle class would not accept living there. Suburban areas tend to be unplanned bedroom communities with very little supporting infrastructure besides the occassional strip mall, so nothing is walkable.

I would love to live in an upscale European style village or town where shops and activities are strewn throughout the living centers and transit is at your doorstep. The problem is, previous US attempts at walkable areas are more like Soviet blockhouses rather than European villages. Also, any planned upscale village built today would be required to be “diverse” and would offer Section 8 housing, so there goes the neighborhood right off the bat.

But yes, I would kill to live in a small European style village where all of the shops and activities I use on a weekly basis were within a 6 block walk of my front door, with light rail to a larger city within 2 blocks of my door, and all of it upscale with very low crime.

No disrespect to those who love rural living but it is not for me. I would love to live in a small upscale walkable village and I would gladly suffer a bit of density to have it. There is space in the USA to cater to both those who want 20 acres and those who want a large lavish high rise apartment in a beautiful urban setting with a solid economy and low crime.

Build it and I’m there. This hardly exists in America becasue it is done wrong almost every time. I can’t think of a planned community in the USA that would feel like living in a French or German village, sans language barrier and nation-specific architecture.

The 1960s riots ended Newark, NJ as a place for normal people to live. It inspired the middle class to move to the suburbs and take their jobs with them. The towns one hour out from Newark generally have a strong police presence. Criminals don't fare well and end up back in Newark. The demographics and periodic riots in America pretty much mean European city life isn't going to work here.

It’s not a European village, but my neighborhood is single family homes on half acre lots, and to the west and south of my house, there is forest. But within a mile or so of my house, there is: two grocery stores (one inexpensive, one upscale), two coffee shops, an ice cream shop, a few pizzarias, a Home Depot, Kohl’s, Costco, Target, and a few chain restaurants.

Walkable suburbs exist. In fact, I can think of quite a few around my town. Just have to look.